[NFBNJ] September 2017 Commission Edition

Thu Sep 28 09:09:11 UTC 2017

Greetings to all!
We have pasted below the Commission Edition for September, 2017.
Working together does make a difference to raise expectations to live the life we want!
A strong NFBNJ and a strong NJCBVI equals opportunities, possibilities and respectabilities for all concerned.

Please read and share.

We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President 
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey 
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking 
www.carshelpingtheblind.org 
or call 855 659 9314

**** 

Commission Edition

The Monthly Newsletter of the NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired

September 2017 – Volume 5, No. 9

Daniel B. Frye, J.D.                                                                                                                                             Pamela Gaston

Executive Director                                                                                                                                               Editor

>From the Director’s Desk 
I am often asked to explain what differentiates a vocational rehabilitation agency that specializes in delivering services to blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind consumers from a general vocational rehabilitation agency that caters to all other persons with disabilities. It is acknowledged by those inquiring that the federal law allows states to deliver vocational rehabilitation services from two entities (one that provides blindness-specific programming and another that provides general services) but these curious souls are interested in the underlying rationale that allows for a blindness-specific service model to exist.

The answer to this question is fairly simple. Historically, the national blindness consumer movement effectively advocated that the needs of blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind people were sufficiently unique that significant additional training would be required in order for this community to function with maximum independence in the work, recreational, and home environment. The absence of vision, it was argued, made it necessary for blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind people to adopt nonvisual strategies to develop conventional literacy skills, to cultivate methods for independent travel, to forge innovative approaches to those practices now collectively known as Skills of Daily Living, and to master the self-confidence required to interact comfortably in all aspects of the world. Finally, proponents of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation recognized early on that the social misconceptions about blindness and low-vision were deep-seated in our culture, and they understood that agencies that had staff possessing comprehensive expertise in blindness and low-vision would be best equipped to help counteract and overcome the false stereotypes and misunderstandings that exist about people who are blind or who function with limited sight.

The early opinions and instincts of these policy champions have been confirmed and acquitted through evidence-based research that clearly demonstrates that blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation services yield dramatically improved outcomes as compared to those blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind consumers and others with all other disabilities who receive their rehabilitation services from a general vocational rehabilitation agency. A study from Mississippi State’s National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low-Vision illustrates that consumers of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation receive qualitatively improved blindness skills; acquire higher numbers of, and better paying jobs; and exhibit higher levels of self-confidence, as measured by attitudinal surveys and bolder acts and efforts that they are willing to take in multiple aspects of living.

Beyond the theoretical and historical developments that have shaped the delivery of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation in this country, I have observed throughout my twenty-year career two practical and distinct services that distinguish effective blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation: high-quality blindness skills training and the obligation to administer the unique, federally-created entrepreneurial program for aspiring blind people, the Randolph-Sheppard program. I believe it is incumbent upon leaders of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation agencies to give particular priority to supporting these two aspects of service delivery. Should leaders fail to maximize the effectiveness of these special services, I believe that they jeopardize and compromise the uncontested advantage inherent in blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation.

Toward this end, I have worked hard during my almost four-year tenure as Executive Director of the Commission to see that we are a learning and training organization. Specifically, I have worked to strengthen our residential blindness training center, the Joseph Kohn Training Center (JKTC), by conducting a year-long quality assurance evaluation of the JKTC. Within the next few weeks, we will be implementing a number of recommendations stemming from the thirty-three page report that has been generated to promote improvement of the programs at the JKTC. Further, last August, I invited Dr. Edward Bell from Louisiana Tech University’s Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness to visit our agency and instruct our management staff on the principles of Structured Discovery, a theoretical teaching approach—applied most commonly in the field of Orientation and Mobility—but universally applicable to all aspects of blindness training. In short, the theory of Structured Discovery encourages the teacher to facilitate learning by blind consumers by asking questions, inviting them to discover their own environments through their nonvisual senses, and ultimately taking responsibility for figuring out how to manage a given situation. This description, to be sure, is over-simplified, but it is acknowledged as one of the most progressive, empowering approaches in blindness rehabilitation in common use today. Additionally, our plans to provide both training and testing to measure the competence, and secure credentials, for our Teachers of the Visually Impaired, Home Instructors, and others in the new Unified English Braille (UEB) code is calculated to guarantee excellence among our Blindness Education and Independent Living staff. Finally, the creation in the last four years of the Student Hands-on Alternatives Reinforcement Project (SHARP); the Employment, Development, Guidance, and Engagement (EDGE) program; and enhancement of the other existing initiatives to deliver high-quality blindness instruction have all been established or refined to achieve the broad goal of providing solid blindness skills instruction.

With respect to the second distinguishing program, I have also concentrated on making the Commission’s Business Enterprises New Jersey (BENJ) program a model for the country. On a foundation of a newly drafted Administrative Code, authored with the consensus of the BENJ staff and our Elected Committee of Blind Managers (ECBM), New Jersey has added certain provisions to our rules that provide incentives for our blind managers to expand their businesses into the private sector, fashioned a new and more merit-based process for promotions and transfers, and clarified ambiguities that existed in the previous rules so that the BENJ program can operate with greater certainty and efficiency. We urge our blind managers to accept opportunities for upward mobility training to ensure that they are best equipped to deliver high-quality food and other customer services to the employees of the federal and state governments and members of the general public who patronize their operations. Last, in my role as President-Elect of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB), the professional network of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation agencies, I devote a substantial amount of time at working on national policies that will preserve and promote the national Randolph-Sheppard program for generations of blind entrepreneurs to come. In this respect, I actively participated on behalf of NCSAB and our agency in the 2017 Business Leadership and Superior Training (BLAST) conference on Randolph-Sheppard in Nashville, Tennessee, from September 11-14, 2017, where over six hundred people interested in the Randolph-Sheppard program assembled to set the direction for this different and dynamic program.

As I close my September column, I hope that it is evident that I am trying to keep the faith with those programs and practices that make blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation essential and effective for the benefit of our blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind consumers in New Jersey. I am grateful to each of you for helping me keep this promise to our constituents.

Daniel B. Frye

Executive Director

Learning Lunch Reminder: 

As previously noted, during each of these monthly sessions, I will meet with five CBVI staff and a member of our Executive Management Team to receive feedback or suggestions on what the Commission might do that is new and exciting.  Please indicate your interest in being part of such an up and coming forum by sending an email with the subject line “Learning Lunch” to my assistant, Melissa Brown, at Melissa.Brown2 at dhs.state.nj.us 

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Program Administration – John C. Walsh, Chief
Building Capacity of Service Providers:  Blindness Learning Community (Part 2)

On August 14, 2017, CBVI issued a Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) and a Request for Letters of Interest (RLI) inviting Supported Employment provider agencies to participate in a Blindness Learning Community (BLC).  Details of that posting were discussed in the August issue of the Commission Edition. The Commission accepted letters of interest until the close of business on September 1st and a total of five agencies applied for this opportunity.  All applicants met the requirements to participate in this initiative as outlined by the RLI and were approved to be a part of the BLC by the internal review committee. Based on the demographics of the agencies that applied, i.e., the counties they serve, and the number of staff, the BLC will be split into Northern and Southern Cohorts.   The Northern Cohort will be located at JKTC, and the Southern Cohort will be located at the Cherry Hill Service Center. All agencies agreed to be part of three full day trainings, and also to participate in three follow-up sessions.   Key staff from the Center for Sensory and Complex Disabilities at The College of New Jersey, as well as agency staff, will be the lead trainers for this project.

The first day of the training will focus on dispelling misconceptions about blindness, training in alternative/non-visual techniques, access technology, and travel techniques and strategies.   The second day will occur one week later and will focus on Person-Centered Planning/Discovery, Collective Impact Strategies, Customized Employment, and Business Engagement.  The final day of training will bring the two regional cohorts together for the wrap-up session that will address additional topical areas identified by cohort members, a facilitated Kaizen (continuous improvement)  session to identify what is working now with the provision of supported employment services, what areas can be improved, and the development of action steps to further improve the working relationships with agency staff and provider agency staff to expand employment outcomes for our consumers.   We will also ask each agency in the cohort groups to give a brief 10-15-minute presentation on their agency.   Based on these three intensive training sessions, three follow-up sessions will occur in early 2018.  

I look forward to being able to share additional details about this project as we inaugurate this program.

Organizational Logistics – Ines Matos, Chief 
Humanware Training, submitted by Colleen Faupel: On Friday, August 25th and Monday, August 28th, Humanware presented training on the Braille Note Touch for CBVI staff and students. The Technology Services Specialists (TSS), along with some Education Teachers of the Vision Impaired (TVI), were able to participate in Braille Note Touch training at the JKTC on Friday to support the current pilot program that is running with 6 students across the state. The students, along with their TVI, parents, and TSS were invited to participate in a full day training session on the use of this device.  Students who had been using the Braille Note Touch during the last few months of this past school year had an opportunity to ask questions that were specific to their needs and share it with other students who might have encountered similar issues in addition to reviewing the device’s features. Some TVIs were present and able to learn with their student along with TSS staff to facilitate CBVI being able to best support these students as we start the new school year and continue the pilot. 

The second day of training was specifically for TSS staff and the TVIs who were involved in Friday’s training, to participate in more comprehensive orientation to the device and gain a greater understanding of the various features. This device is still relatively new and the training provided an opportunity for all TSS staff to learn about the device they may want to recommend for a VR client, as well as provide additional information for TSS working in Education to be best prepared for working in the pilot. 

The Braille Note Touch is the newest note taking device from Humanware. It uses an android based touch screen to power the device along with keysoft software designed to work on the tablet. It has both a touch screen (which also allows users to use “touch braille”) and braille key input in addition to the braille display that comes in either 18 cell or 32 cell versions. The device is designed to combine traditional note taker tasks with the use of a tablet to access modern day apps. Currently the device is being piloted with students varying in age and grade, across the state so that we can evaluate the new device and best identify how it can be offered as a tool in the future. 

If you have any specific questions about this type of device, please reach out to your regional TSS in Education or VR. 

Vocational Rehabilitation and Transitional Services – Amanda Gerson, Coordinator
Business Relations Unit Update: I’d like to formally welcome Janet (Jay) Mills as Supervisor of our Business Relations Unit (BRU). Jay joined the BRU in the beginning of September, and comes to us from CBVI’s Business Enterprise New Jersey (BENJ) program, where she’s served as a Field Representative for more than 15 years. Prior to her tenure with BENJ, Jay had extensive experience in management and retail, contributing to a valuable understanding of the private business sector. Please join me in welcoming Jay to the team. As the Business Relations Unit enters the fall season and National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October, CBVI’s BRU will be participating in a number of Disability Mentoring Days and Disability Awareness events to educate the business community about blindness and the valuable contributions our consumers can make to their companies.

New Reporting Requirements for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA): As we have shared previously, WIOA brought to the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program a number of changes, including those to our performance measures and reporting requirements. In addition to a focus on employment outcomes for CBVI consumers, WIOA also recognizes the valuable work that counselors do and accomplishments that consumers achieve prior to the final stage of acquiring employment. New performance measures from WIOA include credential attainment, measurable skill gains for all consumers, and a focus on pre-employment transition services to our students with disabilities. With these new performance measures also come new reporting requirements for our counselors which went into effect on July 1, 2017, with the start of the new reporting period for Program Year 2017.  With the first quarter ending on September 30th, this month I have spent time providing additional guidance documents, conducted supplemental trainings for each service center, and held “Data Days,” where counselors have been able to focus on completing the necessary documentation with support. With the assistance of the MIS help desk, and the hard work of our VR counselors, we are on our way to successfully completing the new reporting requirements for the first quarter.

Educational Services – Eva Scott, Director of Blindness Education
“Education is the most powerful weapon with which you can use to change the world.”

  Nelson Mandela

The 2017-2018 academic year has begun, and our teachers and supervisors are meeting the challenges associated with this new beginning.  This is the time of the year when we reaffirm our commitment to the education of our students and to do everything within our power to make sure that as they progress towards adulthood, they will be empowered to change the world.  The partnership between CBVI and the schools provides the means for our students to gain a high quality education that is the key for them to become change agents in society. 

Progress Reporting: As part of our Clean Data Initiative in Blindness Education, CBVI teachers are making some modifications to their protocol reporting student progress during the school year, and at the end of the school year.  Teachers are taking care to make sure that their student reports focus on data-based student performance in reference to the objectives the students are working on during the school year.  

The Annual Teachers’ Symposium: The final arrangements are underway for our Annual Teachers’ Symposium that will be held on October 18 and 19, 2017.  CBVI TVIs, TSSs, and Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructors are preparing presentations that will provide participating classroom teachers with a greater understanding of students’ accommodative needs for accessing the general curriculum.  Registrations have been coming in quickly, and most of the individual workshops will be filled to capacity.  This year, the Symposium will be held at the Department of Children and Families Professional Center in New Brunswick.  This new location provides the opportunity to accommodate a greater number of classroom teachers which translates to CBVI’s ability to benefit more students through facilitating awareness of the educational needs of blind and vision impaired students.

>From the George F. Meyer Instructional Resource Center- “Accessible Technology for Personal Safety and Emergency Preparedness”, submitted by Christine Hinton, Deputy Director of Blindness Education: I recently read an article in “AccessWorld" Magazine (Volume 18, Number 2) which I found interesting because it provided essential information considering the recent storms and other disasters around the world.  The article focused on emergency preparedness for people who are blind and vision impaired. 

Many students with vision impairments are users of smart devices like phones and tablets. These devices provide assistance in a variety of ways from accessing information and documents to color identification.   There are also many apps that are accessible to vision impaired students in the case of an emergency or for their personal safety.  Students with vision loss may face challenges in emergencies in guarding their own safety if they are in an unfamiliar area.  These apps may be helpful in enabling students to contact family or emergency services when confronted with emergency situations.   

Some devices like smart phones have quick access buttons to contact emergency services but these are a few of the apps that were recommended in the article:

Circle of 6 (iOS or Android): A circle of up to 6 people from your contacts to be notified in case of an emergency.  This app also includes contact information for national help hotlines.

Safe Trek (iOS and Android):  For real-time safety, hold your finger on the Safe Trek button when walking in an emergency situation and the app alerts authorities to your location.

FEMA APP (iOS and Android): The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) can provide weather services, FEMA contacts, and disaster preparedness information and directions.

Independent Living & Clinical Services – Elizabeth DeShields, Coordinator
The Library Equal Access Program (LEAP) continues to grow. Through the collaborative efforts of the Talking Book and Braille Center (TBBC), Advancing Opportunities (AO), county public libraries, and CBVI, we have expanded learning opportunities and increased methods of communication and obtaining information through the use of assistive technology for individuals that are  age 55 years and older with a vision impairment. 

This year, Morris County Library has been added to LEAP.  In October, Atlantic City Library is branching out to another location on Richmond Avenue, where iPad classes will be offered.  Newark’s main library is next on the roster for the full array of LEAP equipment and lessons, and there is a strong possibility of an additional location becoming available in Monmouth County in the spring of 2018. Equipment in each of the libraries, with the exception of the Richmond Avenue location, includes: laptops, complete with speech and magnification software; iPads; and a closed circuit television system (CCTV). Basic and intermediate classes are being taught by AO on computer and iPad use.

The equipment in each of these libraries is also available for public use when lessons are not in session and can be used by CBVI staff and consumers.  Please make arrangements with the specific library to schedule beforehand. Participating libraries and contact information is located on the CBVI Intranet under the LEAP directory.

Joseph Kohn Training Center – Del Basha, Manager
A number of different classes are taught at The Joseph Kohn Training Center. The ultimate aim of these classes is to promote and increase independence for blind and visually impaired individuals.  A particular instructional topic, keyboarding, is very valuable to all students. Keyboarding is a main instructional discipline that prepares students to use technology and computer systems effectively. 

Keyboarding Class, submitted by Teri Tarantino and Christine Hines, Keyboarding Instructors: Using the keyboard is the first step towards using technology. In addition to general typing, keyboard shortcuts are used in place of visual menus and icons. An individual’s confidence and efficiency on the keyboard are determining factors in their success and enjoyment in using the computer. Touch typing is nothing new; secretaries and typists were encouraged to use all of their fingers and to not look at their hands while they typed. It is more efficient to keep looking up and to use the fingers that are closest to the key being typed. This is the premise behind the typing software program called “Talking Typer” which was developed by the American Printing House (APH). There are lessons for every key on the keyboard with detailed instructions of which finger to use. Each lesson includes practice with characters, words, and sentences. All of the instructions are based on keeping the hands on the home row. This logical, systematic approach to touch typing produces great results. Whether the student is a brand new typist just learning the keys, or an experienced “hunt and peck” typist who is refining his/her keyboarding skills, everyone can benefit from learning to touch type. 

Business Enterprises of New Jersey – Deacon Truesdale, Manager 
On September 13, 2017, Vistar-Mid Atlantic and Vistar-New York had their annual trade show in Atlantic City.  This event showcases the latest products for vending, coffee, and micro-markets. 

Vistar is a wholesale distributor of products such as candy, healthy options, coffee, tea, a variety of non-food items, and equipment to Randolph-Sheppard vending operators nationwide, including BENJ managers here in NJ.  This recent trade show was an excellent opportunity for the operators to interact with one another, investigate new products, and ask questions.

Staff Development – Kenya Whitehurst-Percell
Updates: The eLearning contract with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has ended.  Codes for CBVI staff to access the system have been deactivated.

The next New Hire Onboarding sessions have been scheduled for October 17th at 153 Halsey Street, Newark in the 6th floor conference room and October 18th at Joseph Kohn Training Center (JKTC), 130 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick.  Each training will be a full day session (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) and are mandatory for all new hires. New employees who for any reason were unable to attend the last onboarding should please contact me to discuss your attendance. CBVI’s onboarding is in addition to the one-day orientation provided by DHS in Trenton.

Child Protection and Permanency aka CP&P (formerly the Division of Youth and Family Services aka DYFS), is New Jersey's child protection and child welfare agency within the Department of Children and Families. A representative from this agency will provide an in-service training for CBVI staff. This training will be mandatory for staff of each of the direct-service disciplines, their supervisors, and managers. It is designed to provide participants with information that will assist them in determining when to call the hotline number, what happens after the call is made, and the services available to support the child and the family.

The training will be presented in half-day sessions (9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will be provided in four locations:

·         Wednesday, October 25, 153 Halsey Street, Newark, 3rd floor conference room

·         Wednesday, November 1, 2201 Rt. 38, Cherry Hill, 6th floor conference room 

·         Wednesday, November 8, 130 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, conference rooms A and B

·         Wednesday, November 15, 100 Daniels Way, Freehold, 1st floor conference room 

Reminders: Please read the Guidelines for Attending Events Before submitting training requests. All training requests and Request For Approval For Attendance documentation require that  each form be completed in its entirety and include the required signatures as well as a copy of the sponsor’s details regarding the event. Incomplete documents will delay the review and approval process because they will be returned. Upon receiving your approved documents, please maintain the copies and use them as a reference. The guidelines and forms can be found on the CBVI intranet:

(http://cbvi-web/intranet/CBVINET/Forms/formindex.html).

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any training or staff development questions:  kenya-whitehurst-percell at dhs.state.nj.us, or call 973-648-2820.

Regional Updates 
Southern Region – Jack Thompson, Manager 
Grounds for Sculpture Visit, Submitted by Karen Markey: On September 12, 2017, CBVI hosted an event at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton for a group of senior consumers who were accompanied by several staff, who represented the agency’s service disciplines.  The Grounds for Sculpture garden provided a docent who provided verbal descriptions and a tactual tour of the sculptures on the grounds. 

During the tour, interactions amongst the group empowered individuals to assist their peers within the group. For example, a vision impaired consumer independently began describing the surface of the ground to a totally blind consumer as they walked up to touch a sculpture together.  Another consumer took the initiative to guide another across rocky terrain. 

The camaraderie of the group members during the tour, which lasted slightly over an hour continued through friendly, yet invigorated conversations as the consumers were transported back to their counties.   

Northern Region – John Reiff, Manager
A short article in the September 2017 edition of Scientific American titled “Navigating by Touch”, tells readers about the current testing of tactile maps at traffic light intersections in NYC. The maps are reportedly of particular value at complex intersections and reflect such things as islands, bike lanes, the number of vehicle lanes, and the direction of moving traffic. The article states that if the testing is successful, “These maps could be installed at all of New York’s 13,000 traffic lights”, facilitating safer independent travel in unfamiliar areas of the city for blind consumers.  Advances in technology such as this continues the journey towards truly leveling the playing field for people who are blind and vision impaired.

The Northern Service Region welcomes Home Instructor Patricia Hipkins-Carr. Patricia, who has been working at JKTC for several years, is scheduled to report to her reassignment on October 2nd. 

New or Noteworthy
·         The 7th Annual New Jersey Disability Pride Parade & Celebration will take place on Saturday, October 7th (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) in Trenton, NJ. Hundreds  of  people and organizations representing a wide variety of disabilities will march and roll from the Trenton War Memorial at 1 Memorial Drive to the celebration site at Mill Hill Park, 165 East Front Street.

The purpose of the New Jersey Disability Pride Parade & Celebration is to bring people, organizations, and businesses together to celebrate pride within the disability community and to promote the belief that disability is a natural and beautiful part of human diversity while generating national awareness for the disability community.

There will be live entertainment, exhibitors, giveaways, face painting, food trucks, prizes, and more. For more information visit: www.NJDisabilityPride.com or call the Alliance Center for Independence (ACI): 732-738-4388. 

·         The NJ State Library Talking Book and Braille Center’s (TBBC) Fall Festival will be held on Saturday, October 14th (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) at Grounds for Sculpture, 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, NJ 08619.

Here is the link to the TBBC newsletter: http://www.njstatelib.org/talking-book-braille-center/insights-newsletter-new-jersey-state-library-talking-book-braille-center 

Here is the link to the TBBC Fall Festival web page: http://www.njstatelib.org/talking-book-braille-center/festival 

comments 

The Last Words
“Never look down on anybody unless you are helping them get up.” – Jesse Jackson

Please send items or suggestions for the next issue of the Commission Edition by or before 11 a.m., Monday, October 16, 2017:

Pamela.Gaston at dhs.state.nj.us and Melissa.Brown2 at dhs.state.nj.us 

From: joe ruffalo [mailto:nfbnj1 at verizon.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2017 8:51 PM
To: Brian Mackey <bmackey88 at gmail.com>; joe ruffalo <nfbnj1 at verizon.net>
Subject: No rush, convert and paste Fw: Fwd: September 2017 Commission Edition

Brian, no rush.

Paste in the body.Thanks

We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President 
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey 
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking 
www.carshelpingtheblind.org 
or call 855 659 9314

From: Daniel Frye 

Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2017 6:36 PM

To: nfbnj1 at verizon.net 

Subject: Fwd: September 2017 Commission Edition

Dan Frye 

(410) 241-7006 (personal mobile)

Please forgive brevity and any typographical errors.

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

  From: <Daniel.Frye at dhs.state.nj.us>
  Date: 26 September 2017 at 5:51:45 pm GMT-4
  To: <CBVI.AllUsers at dhs.state.nj.us>
  Cc: <Elizabeth.Connolly at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Doris.Windle at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Nicole.Brossoie at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Christina.Mongon at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Bonny.Fraser at dhs.state.nj.us>, <David.Alexander at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Joseph.Amoroso at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Jennifer.Bryan at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Christopher.Bailey at dhs.state.nj.us>
  Subject: September 2017 Commission Edition

  Colleagues:

  Please see attached the September 2017 issue of the Commission Edition. As is my custom, I want to acknowledge and thank Pamela Gaston and Melissa Brown for their invaluable assistance in editing, proofreading, and formatting our monthly publication. Further, I reiterate my invitation to staff to submit your own creative contributions for publication consideration; your ideas and observations will enrich our newsletter.

  I have used my column this month to offer reflections on the importance of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation in the lives of our eligible consumers. While contemplating this subject, I identified the distinguishing characteristics that, in my observation, render our services unique and particularly effective. We are fortunate to live in a State that has determined, as a matter of public policy, to provide, since 1910, specialized vocational rehabilitation, educational,  and other services to blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind residents of New Jersey. Our ability to offer these blindness-specific services is because we have assembled a qualified staff of subject-matter experts who take pride in their distinct professional skillsets, and who aspire to achieve excellence and best practices in each of our program disciplines. Thank you all for your commitment to helping CBVI offer a diverse menu of blindness-specific services.

  Finally, the balance of the content in this month’s Commission Edition demonstrates the wide variety of programs and services that we are offering, while making the necessary adjustments to functioning in the new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reality. I understand that many of the new Federal mandates have created different and time-consuming demands on some of our staff (particularly our Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and first-line supervisory team), and I want you to know that I appreciate the good humor and professional spirit that each of you have adopted during this time of transition, keeping your eye and mind on the fundamental and critical mission of delivering high-quality training and assisting our consumers to find meaningful employment in integrated, competitive settings.

  With September, I welcome you again to my favorite season of the year, autumn. We’ve all seen children returning to school; soon we’ll all have access to pumpkin and other fall harvests; and as autumn turns into winter, the holidays will be upon us, providing another opportunity for us to be grateful for another year of personal and professional productivity and blessings.

  Keep in touch, be well, and do good work.

  With Kind Regards,

  <!--[if !vml]-->

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  <!--[endif]-->Daniel B. Frye, J.D.

  Executive Director

  State of New Jersey

  Department of Human Services

  COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED 

  153 Halsey Street, 6th Floor, P.O. Box 47017

                                     Newark, NJ 07101

                                     Office: (973) 648-2324 ● Mobile: 973-951-1156 ● Fax: (973) 648-7364

                                     Email: Daniel.Frye at dhs.state.nj.us

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  This E-mail, including any attachments, may be intended solely for the personal and confidential use of the sender and recipient(s) named above. This message may include advisory, consultative and/or deliberative material and, as such, would be privileged and confidential and not a public document. Any Information in this e-mail identifying a client of the Department of Human Services or the Department of Children and Families is confidential. If you have received this e-mail in error, you must not review, transmit, convert to hard copy, copy, use or disseminate this e-mail or any attachments to it and you must delete this message. You are requested to notify the sender by return e-mail. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dan Frye
(410) 241-7006 (personal mobile)

Please forgive brevity and any typographical errors.
Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: <Daniel.Frye at dhs.state.nj.us>
> Date: 26 September 2017 at 5:51:45 pm GMT-4
> To: <CBVI.AllUsers at dhs.state.nj.us>
> Cc: <Elizabeth.Connolly at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Doris.Windle at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Nicole.Brossoie at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Christina.Mongon at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Bonny.Fraser at dhs.state.nj.us>, <David.Alexander at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Joseph.Amoroso at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Jennifer.Bryan at dhs.state.nj.us>, <Christopher.Bailey at dhs.state.nj.us>
> Subject: September 2017 Commission Edition
> 
> Colleagues:
>  
> Please see attached the September 2017 issue of the Commission Edition. As is my custom, I want to acknowledge and thank Pamela Gaston and Melissa Brown for their invaluable assistance in editing, proofreading, and formatting our monthly publication. Further, I reiterate my invitation to staff to submit your own creative contributions for publication consideration; your ideas and observations will enrich our newsletter.
>  
> I have used my column this month to offer reflections on the importance of blindness-specific vocational rehabilitation in the lives of our eligible consumers. While contemplating this subject, I identified the distinguishing characteristics that, in my observation, render our services unique and particularly effective. We are fortunate to live in a State that has determined, as a matter of public policy, to provide, since 1910, specialized vocational rehabilitation, educational,  and other services to blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind residents of New Jersey. Our ability to offer these blindness-specific services is because we have assembled a qualified staff of subject-matter experts who take pride in their distinct professional skillsets, and who aspire to achieve excellence and best practices in each of our program disciplines. Thank you all for your commitment to helping CBVI offer a diverse menu of blindness-specific services.
>  
> Finally, the balance of the content in this month’s Commission Edition demonstrates the wide variety of programs and services that we are offering, while making the necessary adjustments to functioning in the new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reality. I understand that many of the new Federal mandates have created different and time-consuming demands on some of our staff (particularly our Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and first-line supervisory team), and I want you to know that I appreciate the good humor and professional spirit that each of you have adopted during this time of transition, keeping your eye and mind on the fundamental and critical mission of delivering high-quality training and assisting our consumers to find meaningful employment in integrated, competitive settings.
>  
> With September, I welcome you again to my favorite season of the year, autumn. We’ve all seen children returning to school; soon we’ll all have access to pumpkin and other fall harvests; and as autumn turns into winter, the holidays will be upon us, providing another opportunity for us to be grateful for another year of personal and professional productivity and blessings.
>  
> Keep in touch, be well, and do good work.
>  
>  
> With Kind Regards,
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> Daniel B. Frye, J.D.
> Executive Director
> State of New Jersey
> Department of Human Services
> COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
> 153 Halsey Street, 6th Floor, P.O. Box 47017
>                                    Newark, NJ 07101
>                                    Office: (973) 648-2324 ● Mobile: 973-951-1156 ● Fax: (973) 648-7364
>                                    Email: Daniel.Frye at dhs.state.nj.us
>  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20170928/a6cc1913/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 491 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20170928/a6cc1913/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3699 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20170928/a6cc1913/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.wmz
Type: application/x-ms-wmz
Size: 14537 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20170928/a6cc1913/attachment.bin>